Hanger-strap or handhold for cars.



J. F. NEWTON, JR. HANGER STRAP OR HANDHOLD FOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 7, 1914.

1,1 12,157. Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO LITHOY. WASHINGTON. I) c.

UN D QW OFFICE JOHN F. NEWTON, JR, on session, MASSACHUSETTS.

' HANGER-STRAP OR HANDl-IOLD FOR CARS.

To all whom 21/; may concern I Be it known that 1, JOHN F. Nnw'ron, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Hanger-Straps or Handholds for Cars, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention is an improvement upon the hanger-straps or hand-holds of my prior United States Letters Patent No. 863,935, granted August 20, 1907; No. 879,575, granted Feb. 18, 1908; No. 901,119, granted October 13, 1908; and No. 947,022, granted- Jan. 18, 1910.

Objects of the present invention are to modify and adapt the sheet-metal handle to be employed without the addition of strips bearing advertising matter, or'added for purposes of ornamentation and the like, as provided for in certain ofthe Letters Patent aforesaid, and at thesame time provide against the lodgment or gathering of dirt or germs; also, to stiffen the upper portions of the opposite side-arms of the handle to prevent the same from. bending when acted upon by a pressure tending to crush such arms toward each other. Also, to make a more secure connection between the leather strap and the terminal lug at the top of the handle, and relieve the tubular fastening rivets from a large portion or all of the strain due to downward pull exerted upon the handle. Also, to provide for more effectively keeping the leather strap-portion and the handle in alinement with each other, and preventing tendency to lateral displace ment at the point at which the parts are riveted together. I

The features of my presentinvention are illustrated in the acompanying drawings, in which latter,-

Figure 1 shows in front elevation a hanger-strap embodying the said features, and a portion of a supporting-rod or bar upon which the said hanger-strap is suspended. Fig. 2 is a view in vertical section in the plane of the line 2, 2, of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows in elevation the sheet-metal handle, separately. Fig. 1 is a. detail view in crosssection in the plane of line 4, 4, of Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. Fig. 5 is a view in section on line 5, 5, of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a detail view in vertical section of the upper portion of the handle, without the strap.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 7, 1914.

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

Serial No. 817,324. i a

Fig. 7 is a detail View showing the inner surface of one of the lower ends of the strap, illustrating the conformation which is imparted to the same. Fig. 8 is a view in ver tical section of the lower ends of the strap, showing more particularly the molding of such ends.

1 Having reference to the drawings :At 1, 1, in Figs. 1 and 2, is represented a portion of a rod upon which the hanger-strap is shown suspended. This rod is of the character ofthose heretofore employed in streetcars and the like for the support of the hanger-straps that are used in such cars.

Instead of the said rod I may use an independent anchor for the upper end of the hanger-strap. The character of the support from which thehanger-strap hangs pendent forms no part of the invention. At 2, is the leather. strap-portion of the hanger-strap the strap constituting the same being doubled upon itself as shown, with its two downwardly-extending sideportions bound together by means of a tubular rivet 2 at an intermediate point between its closed top .or bight and the lower ends of the strap, and the two side-portions further secured together by stitching 2 extending from a point adjacent the rivet 2 down along both margins of the strap so as to bind the lower parts of the two side-portions'of the strap togetherf a At 3 is the handle, it being made of sheetmetal stamped or pressed into shape substantially as in the case of the corresponding part in my prior patents aforesaid.

At 3, 3 are side flanges ofthe handle, formed by bending or rolling the marginal portions of the strip of sheet-metal ofwhich the handle isformed inward upon themselves. These flanges form and constitute tubular ribs by means of which the edges of the handle are finished off and rendered smooth and rounded, and by whichthe sidearms of the handle as well as the bend or big'ht forming the lower portion of the .flanges or ribs against te adjoining portions of the surface of the handle so as to obviate the existence of any opening or channel within which dirt and germs may lodge. The closing of the flanges or ribs in the manner explained, and shown more particularly in Fig. 5 of the drawings, also renders the handle stiffer, and correspondingly stronger.

At 3 is the projecting lug or tongue which extends from the top end of the handle up between the lower ends of the twov side-portions of the leather strap, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This lug .or tongue is composed of two extensions from the upper ends of the side arms of the handle, these extensions being in contact with each? other, the inner face of one extension lying against that of the other except where the metal is bulged outward in consequence of? the shape given to it by the molding operation. The lug or tongue has holes 3 and 3 for the reception of the tubular rivets 5 and 3 6 .by which the said lower ends of the strap and the lug or tongue are fastened together i in connecting the handle with the strap.-

This is shown to the best advantage in I 2. At 3 is a molded and raised portion of each of the thicknesses composing the lug or tongue by means of which the latter is stiffened and strengthened, this raised portion being in the form of a bead extending vertically along both margins of the lug or tongue, also around the upper end, and also across the width of the lug or tongue between the upper and lower eyelet-holes 3 and 3. The effect of this molding of the respective thicknesses composing the lug or tongue is as shown best in Fig. 6, to effectually truss and reinforce and stiffen the lug or tongue.

A second feature of the invention is the molding of the lower ends of the two sideportions of the strap 2 to form in each thereof a depression shaped properly to receive the raised head 3 of the lug or tongue, and also to form circular or ring-like prominent portions to enter and fit within depressions surrounding the holes 3 and 3. This molding is illustrated more particularly in Figs. 7 and 8. It will beperceived that a depression 2 is formed in the inner surface of each of the lower end-portions of the strap 2, such depression corresponding in form and configuration with the raised bead-portions 3 of the corresponding side of the lug or tongue 3' of the handle. Within the width of the grooved depression 2 are formed the raised ring-like prominent portions or ridges 2, 2, shown best in Fig. 7, to enter within the circular depressions which are formed in both sides of the lug or tongue around the holes 3 and 3 as shown in the sectional View, Fig. 2. By reason of the entrance of the raised beaded portions of each surface of the lug or tongue 3* into the depressions 2 of the inner faces of the lower end-portions of the strap, and by reason further of the parts being securely clamped together in the relation just explained by means of the tubular rivets 5 and G, the strap and the handle are held effectively in longitudinal alinement so that neither of them can be swung edge-wise transversely in Fig. 1 with reference to the other. The entrance of the ring-like raised portions 2, 2, into the annular depressions around the holes 3, 3, enables such ringlike raised portions, through their engagement with the adjoining portions of the bead 8, to take the strain when weight is suspended from the handle, and thereby rclieve the rivets 5 and G of a part or the whole of such strain. Thereby the tendency to breakage is lessened and the strength and durability of the strap are increased.

At 10, 10, are the opposite portions of a raised rib or panel that is formed in each of the two sidearms of the handle to stiffen the latter and provide an increased bulk between the marginal ribs rendering the handle more comfortable to hold in the grasp of the hand. A special feature of invention consists in continuing the upper portion of the said raised panel upward between the opposite lower side-portions of the bead 3 and as far as the inwardly pressed ring around the lower hole 3. Thereby the weak place at the base of the said lug or tongue, where it joins the main part of the side-arm of the handle, is stiff ened and strengthened.

The intermediate portion or web of the handle in the bend or bight is concavcd transversely, as shown at 3. This portion of the handle is more effectually supported and stiffened or strengthened than in my prior patented inventions by the closing of the flanges or ribs at the opposite edges of the handle, as described above and as shown more particularly in Fig. 5. By causing the free edge of each of the said flanges or ribs to touch the surface of the sheet-metal strip, I effectually truss the bend or bight of the handle. In my prior patents an opening or channel is left between the free edge of the marginal flange and the surface of the adjoining portion of the sheet-metal strip, this construction being weaker and less rigid in consequence of lacking the trussing effect due to bringing the edge of the rib or flange into actual contact with the adjacent surface of the strip.

At m Fig. 2, is a hole made in one rolled marginal ange, such hole being intended to receive the point; of a hook or other convenient implement to facilitate the handling of the handle after being immersed in a liquid finish. Such hole is so located that when the handle is supported by means of the said hook, or by some other supporting device occupying the hole, the handle naturally gravitates into a position in which the lug or tongue hangs downward, so that the finish will drip from the tip end of the lug or tongue, thereby securing smoothness in all other portions of the handle.

What is claimed as the invention is 1. 1 1 hanger-strap or hand-hold comprising a supporting strap, a handle composed of sheet-metal iormed into a loop with a connecting lug or tongue having eyeletholes therethrough, said lug or tongue formed with depressions around said eyeletholes and with a raised bead, and fastenings occupying said eyelet-holes and securing the strap to the lug or tongue, the said strap molded with prominent portions which fit and occupy said depressions around the eyelet-holes, and also with a depression which {its and is occupied by said raised bead of the rug or tongue, thereby relieving the fastenings of more or less strain, and holding the strap and handle in longitudinal alinement.

2. A hanger-strap or hand-hold comprising a supporting strap and a handle, the lat ter composed of a strip of sheet-metal bent into the form of a loop with the free ends of the strip brought close together, the said loop having its side-arms stifi'ened to pre-v vent them from being crushed together by tubular ribs formed by bending or rolling the marginal portions of the strips inward, the upper portions of the said side-arms forming a lug or tongue engaged by the fastening means which connects the handle to the strap, with the said side-arms respectively molded to form intermediate longitudinal panels which continue upon said lug or tongue, whereby bending of the lug" or tongue at the base or root thereof is obviated.

3. A hanger-strap or hand-hold having a handle composed of a strip of sheet-metal bent into the form of a loop with the free ends of the strip brought close together, having in its bend an open or uncovered inward transverse concavity, and having the said bend and the side-arms of the loop stiffened and trussed by tubular ribs formed by bending or rolling the marginal portions of the strip inward upon themselves, with the free side'edges of the strip closed against and touching the surface of the sheet-metal.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN F. NEWTON, JR. Witnesses:

, CHAS. F. RANDALL, ELLEN 0. SPRING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each,iby addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington. D. 0. 

